After nearly two and half months of Israeli blockade of all food, water, and medicine into Gaza, and a less than impressive rollout of Washington’s new, privatized model for aid distribution (see separate report, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced some misgivings today. Present in Antalya, Türkiye for a NATO gathering of foreign ministers, he stated, according to the Times of Israel, that he is “troubled” by the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Of note, he had just discussed the matter with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this morning, which might have been the occasion of his troubled feelings.
While Rubio stopped short of expressly criticizing Israel, he said that the U.S. is not immune to the suffering of the people in Gaza. ToI noted that his comments “seemed to be moving in that direction [of calling out Israel] after Trump officials had long exclusively blamed Hamas for the humanitarian crisis.”
